2023-09-07: Bumper Derby
- Log: 2023-09-07 Bumper Derby
- Cast: Asuka Shikinami Langley, Shinji Ikari
- Where: Tokyo-3
- OOC - IC Date: September 7, UC 0097 (2023)
- Summary: Asuka and Shinji's latest date takes them to a batting cage--or wait, a carnival? And their rivals at bumper cars are... Tohji and Kensuke?!
<Pose Tracker> Asuka Shikinami Langley has posed.
"You know if you're looking for a 'magic moment' there's better things to wear to emphasize your womanly charm!" Misato Katsuragi said.
"Pass. And I told you to stop inviting yourself in whenever I'm getting ready for a date!"
"Ah young love. How far have the two of you gotten anyway?" Misato quirked an eyebrow, "Certainly not looking for him to steal Second Base in that outfit."
"Shut it." Asuka muttered, as she was currently wearing a sport black T-Shirt with orange sleeves, a Denim Skirt, and black thigh high stockings. "There's nothing wrong with what I'm wearing for this kind of date!"
She chuckled, waggling her eyebrows, "You look like you're going to the batting cages or something. Not exactly the most romantic destination." Asuka looked away, perturbed as she nudged the visor she intended to wear off the counter, so it fell behind her dresser, "Of course we're not doing that-! For your information we're-!"
-=-=-
Shinji is perhaps used to Asuka's volatile shift in moods, but when she changed her mind last minute from a trip to the Batting Cages to a-
... Bumper Car Demolition Derby night...
Well it was a suggestion he made! It certainly was a suggestion he made. "Come on, I'm really in the mood to hit something!"
She couldn't have done that at the batting cages-
"Or SOMEONE!"
Oh.
Either way, she's holding him by the hand as she moves down to the Bumper Cars at this Tokyo-3 Carnival Park that had set itself up.
As a rule Tokyo-3 didn't have any long term amusement parks simply because it's not something they'd preserve in the Geofront, and thus subject to destruction in any Angel or Kaiju attack.
Thus such attractions had to remain small and mobile to be part of any evacuation.
There's a line of various beaten up and dented bumper cars as part of tonight's derby event, in which Asuka stares at them for a while, before stating-
"You pick one!"
Yes, go on Shinji, pick one. The correct one. No pressure.
<Pose Tracker> Shinji Ikari has posed.
Shinji knows Misato means well. He's grateful to her for trying to help, even--her meddling is genuinely welcome compared to the cold apathy that he perceived his father's absence to be. But if she's going to meddle, he does wish she'd... be better at it.
Even though he suggested it, bumper car demolition derby seems... intense. At least the batting cages felt like something he could reasonably keep up with. He smiles nervously at her declaration. He, for his part, is wearing casual blue jeans, a black undershirt, a white sports jersey, a baseball cap, and sneakers. When Misato had told him he looked like he was going to the batting cages, he'd just given her a puzzled look and said, "We are?"
Which was meant to be a confirmation. Not. Whatever this has ended up turning into.
"Someone, huh..." he mutters under his breath, following along in a hurry after her, hand in hand. For all her simmering rage, though, he likes that they're close enough that they can do this--hold hands in public. People will look at them and go, 'Ah, what a cute couple!' So despite it all, he can't help smiling at her even as they work their way through the carnival park.
This park might disassemble and leave, but they'll always be together. He likes thinking that. And keeping up with Asuka's pace means he doesn't have time to think about anything else.
Soon they come to a stop, and Shinji stumbles a bit before Asuka demands he pick a bumper car.
"Me?" he utters, staring at her, then at the cars. "Uhhh... That one," he says, pointing at a bright red one striped in white. He's not sure he really fits as white, but red is definitely Asuka's color.
That is absolutely as far as Shinji's thought process goes. The idea that different bumper cars might have different qualities would startle him.
...
Hopefully it's the correct one...
"Your outfit looks cute, by the way," he offers, now that he has the time and breath to compliment her. (Also now that he knows that she'll accept compliments like that.) "You want us to take another picture later?"
Obviously not right now, since they'll be ushered into their car in short order. There's just enough room for two young people or one large adult, which means they need to squeeze together to fit. Fortunately, there are seatbelts, or rather a singular seatbelt that stretches across their laps. Shinji buckles them in first thing.
<Pose Tracker> Asuka Shikinami Langley has posed.
"We are!"
It had been ground out through her teeth, and certainly Shinji might think she's upset at him, but she is holding his hand isn't she?
Perhaps there's something even possessive, or clingy about the gesture with her. As if she needed to say 'mine' without saying the words.
People who comment get a glance that's anything BUT cute but she doesn't actually cause any incidents.
And at Shinji's choice, she scrutinizes it for a moment before a decisive, "Yeah that one works."
Apparently, he made the correct choice, good for him! Let's see if he can keep up the trend. As he compliments her, she looks away from him, her cheeks a touch pink.
"Yours isn't half bad either. Must be taking fashion advice from Fifth String."
It's a little condescending perhaps, to attribute his fashion choices to someone else, but perhaps she has a tough time conveying 'You did alright' otherwise.
Also there's no way she's giving credit to Tohji or Kensuke here.
However, Shinji might at least sense that he's taking the edge off of her anger when he compliments her, which forces her to reciprocate.
"Uh - yeah sure." She says of the picture, a small stumble in her words before she recovers, "After we WRECK all of the competition here!"
So is it only contingent on them winning this thing? She doesn't make that clear, Asuka certainly is competitive though so maybe.
Buckling herself in, she lines themselves up next to the other racers... which is when-
"Yo lovebirds!"
Speak of the Devil- or rather devils, because that sure is Toji Suzuhara, alongside Kensuke Aida, both grinning at them, Toji actually saluting, while Kensuke holds up a V. "You holding out on us Ikari? You told us you were going to the batting cages tonight for your hot date!"
Asuka's shoulders are now hunched down, fingers gripping the wheel white knuckle, as she glances sidelong at both of them as she gives them both a dark look.
It hasn't started yet, perhaps, but Shinji might get the impression that she has figured out who 'someone' is.
TARGET ACQUIRED
<Pose Tracker> Shinji Ikari has posed.
Good for him!! Shinji smiles, pleased with himself for having made the right decision, or at least not the wrong one. He doesn't mind Asuka's clinginess at all, either. It's a different side of her that he doesn't usually get to see... and it makes him feel good that she feels that way about him. Even now, he's still sure she could do better, but--she chose him. And that means a lot.
As for her counter-compliment, it might be condescending, but it's condescending in a way Shinji doesn't mind. After all-- "How'd you guess?" he says affably. "He helped me pick out that yukata the other day, too. He really does have a good eye for this kind of thing, huh?"
It isn't really that Kaworu is a fashionista or anything like that. But he has a high appreciation for beauty, and in aesthetics lies beauty. This is a highly casual look he has on, but it is well-coordinated in its colors.
He laughs a little as Asuka stumbles in her embarrassment, only to cover it up with more aggression. He doesn't mind that either--not here, in a safe, controlled environment where no one's actually going to get hurt. ...Probably. He hasn't forgotten their disastrous first date, but that feels like a long time ago. He feels... safer, with her, now. He watches her with a fond smile as she takes the controls--
--which is how he doesn't notice two of his best friends until they call out to him.
%
"Guys!" he utters, whipping his head around to stare at them. "No, it's not like that--we just had a last-minute change in plans!" he protests, but he already knows it's too late. If he'd known that Tohji and Kensuke would be here, he'd have suggested something else to Asuka. He cherishes his friends, of course, but having them here is kind of...
A certain aura builds at his side. Shinji side-eyes it nervously.
"Go easy on them, okay?" he whispers, already gripping the brakes handle for dear life.
This night might end up a bloodbath after all...
<Pose Tracker> Asuka Shikinami Langley has posed.
"He's your only friend who has a mind for this kinda thing."
And perhaps there was a touch of 'Poor Hikari' into that one. As much as she dislikes Kaworu, she has to admit he has pretty good fashion sense for a guy.
But it's also...
Well, she knows. She figured it out. It makes sense that she'd support them being together in this way.
Not that she can say anything to Shinji about that.
His small laugh, she thankfully takes as, not laughing at her here, though she does look at him sideways.
For a moment she even looks a touch shy? It's blink or you miss it, perhaps it's just the look in her eyes.
"Ohoho-! Last minute?" Toji laughs in response, "What? Swinging at the cages weren't exciting enough for Langley over there?"
"Nnnghrr..." Asuka lets out a sound that's akin to a low growl, as she keeps getting prodded on things which are - too correct for her comfort zone.
Whereas Kensuke grins at him, "Well good luck out there you two. Didn't expect you to be our competition tonight."
Shinji makes a request and Asuka sideeyes him, "Whose side are you on? They're the competition!" She says to him, annoyed, but fortunately not angry. It's at least a little reasonable he ask that. It's just, he's on a date with her, so of COURSE he should want them to win.
A bored looking part-timer, calls out on a bullhorn, "Racers at the ready! On your mark! Get set-!"
A sputtering red light shifts to green-!
"Go!"
Now, Shinji's seen Asuka be a pretty good driver, definitely better than Mari and Misato...
... what he hasn't seen is there is a qualifier to that statement 'When she wants to be' or 'when nothing is on the line.'
Her foot punches the accelerator, even as she veers to bash a yellow checkered bumper car right into Toji and Kensuke two cars over, before she takes off.
"OH IT'S ON LANGLEY!"
Toji calls, as he course corrects from wiping out as they begin their wild trek down the lanes.
"Eat my dust you meatheaded moron!"
She calls out specifically twisting her dialect to be Osakan fighting words - POORLY - but definitely meant to provoke him.
<Pose Tracker> Shinji Ikari has posed.
"...Yeah," Shinji admits, something close to a laugh on his breath. "I guess most guys don't really think about fashion. Kaworu-kun's..."
Technically not a guy, he suddenly remembers; he'd told him so ages back, back when they were both trapped in Tsutsujidai. That 'male' and 'female' don't mean anything to him, that he doesn't feel like he's either, and he only goes by he/him pronouns because people assume he's a boy based on what his body looks like and he doesn't mind their assumptions. But Kaworu told him that in confidence. He probably wouldn't care if other people knew, but... Shinji would rather keep his secret. (Would rather be someone that Kaworu can trust with a secret.)
"...just different like that," he concludes aloud.
"You really shouldn't tease her like that," Shinji tells Tohji and Kensuke, a note of warning in his voice. He almost brings up what Asuka did the last time people teased her on a date, but he can't think of how to say it without getting her more mad. To Asuka, he looks briefly chagrined. "I didn't say we should lose, just..."
He doesn't get a chance to think of how to finish that sentence. The race is on.
It's SO on.
"WAAAAAHHHH!!" Shinji screams as he grips the brakes. He doesn't dare actually pull them. Wiping out on the racetrack is still better than what would happen if he made them lose. Asuka's brutal tactics are at least getting them an early lead, though--and as Tohji moves to try to catch up, Shinji shouts over his shoulder, "SORRY!"
Then, to Asuka, he says, "Get more cars in between us and they won't catch up!!"
Yes, he's chosen to take Asuka's side on this...
...but also, the further away Toji and Kensuke are, the less likely Asuka will be able to wreck them.
<Pose Tracker> Asuka Shikinami Langley has posed.
Kaworu is different like that, and perhaps Shinji gets a look in that moment, back then, as if Asuka while not understanding the specifics, understands that Kaworu is 'different'.
Perhaps not in the way Shinji thinks, and her own way of thinking of Kaworu as different is not correct either.
"Yeah. ... Yeah he is."
Strange, to hear her not venting her dislike of him in this moment.
But that was then! And this is NOW! And-
WAAAAAHHHH!!
It's a good thing he didn't say they should lose. Because Asuka certainly looks like she's not going to. The Bumper Car is moving as fast as it's specifications can, as it takes a sudden turn hard enough that they bump a barrier of old rubber tires - before tearing off in front.
Get more cars between them?
Asuka keeps her eyes on the road, and then abruptly, brakes as the second place car would smash into them.
What ends up happening is it hits them wrong and goes into a violent spin, before Asuka strikes their tail end - completely turning them 180 and making it near impossible to get back into it.
And also leaving them to the mercy in the other cars.
"Sure. That's an option." She tells Shinji, "But so is treating this like a battlefield!"
And perhaps it's clear instantly that Asuka has chosen VIOLENCE!
"We're gonna GET YOU LOSERS!" Tohji calls from behind, even as Kensuke directs him, "Shift our trajectory thirty five degrees left!"
Like a proper miitary support squad he directs him, and Tohji responds, "Degrees!? I aint no good at - GEOMETRY!"
He says as he smashes into another car, evading the obstacle that Asuka set up by causing another to wipe out on the tires.
"Come up here and call me a loser to my FACE!"
Asuka shouts behind her, holding onto the wheel, and DEFINITELY not looking at the track as she shouts back behind her at the competition
<Pose Tracker> Shinji Ikari has posed.
Honestly, Asuka not actively dunking on Kaworu is about the best Shinji can hope for from her. That's one good thing about his girlfriend and best friend's poor relationship; they're polite enough (respect each other enough?) to keep it to themselves most of the time.
But that was then, and this is now, and now they're smashing other cars and crashing into piles of tires and Shinji is going to scream himself hoarse at this rate. Especially since Asuka has chosen violence, to the surprise of no one.
"How do you win at bumper derby, anyway?!" he cries to no one, regretting ever bringing this date option up.
But at least Asuka's having fun? He thinks??
At the very least, Asuka's creaming the other team pretty thoroughly, even if--
"ASUKA! LOOK IN FRONT! LOOK IN FRONT!!" Shinji shrieks as the pile-up only seconds ahead of them. How sturdy are their seatbelts??
<Pose Tracker> Asuka Shikinami Langley has posed.
How DO you win, at Bumper Derby?
"Who cares!? I figure if we knock everyone else out, we win!"
Perhaps it's by making Shinji scream the most. It certainly feels like Asuka is wracking up points if that's the aim.
Is Asuka having fun? She seems so INTENSE! But perhaps the intensity is the fun to her, being an adrenaline junky.
She certainly looks similar to how he's seen her in the sims, piloting Eva...
... is she actually taking this as seriously as piloting Eva? SURELY NOT!
... There haven't been any actual casualties yet after all...
Shinji directs attention to how she's not looking out in front, but seemingly at the last possible second, she starts a SHARP one handed turn which bounces them against the tires again - sending them careening down the next stretch of track.
Her last second maneuver seems to have faked out a car of another pair of middle schoolers, which doesn't make the turn quite so tightly and crashes into the tires.
"I GOT IT I GOT IT ALRIGHT?" She tells Shinji, after proving she maybe DOES got it? That was too close though! And she's never driven one of these before!
It feels like no matter how good she might be, that eventually she's gonna misjudge things...! It's only a matter of time.
Team SuzuhAida's own car has to make an even sharper turn to miss the crash, grazing against the other car, but coming after them.
They're now in second place. In fact, they're coming up fast- real fast! Asuka tries to brake again, but- "She's trying to wipe us out! Don't fall for it!" Aida calls to her companion, even as Tohji declerates JUST enough that the pair of cars are...
... side by side, grinding up against each other.
"GET OFF OF US YOU MORON-!" Asuka shouts, leaning out of her car, even as Tohji leans ACROSS Kensuke to get up near her.
"No can do! This is as CAR as you go LANGLEY!"
"Dude that pun sucks!" Kensuke says to his friend, leaning over him.
"Whose side are you on?!"
<Pose Tracker> Shinji Ikari has posed.
Knock everyone else out and they win... Classic Asuka. Shinji feels intensely glad they're on the same side. This might not have the stakes of a battle against an Angel, but Asuka's no less intense for it. He wouldn't want to face off against her in this state... Are there seriously people who want to challenge her?!
Well, yes. Obviously. They're facing a couple people like that right now.
Asuka hits a turn so sharp he could shave with it, bumping off the tires. Shinji flails as he nearly falls out of the bumper car--fortunately, that seatbelt saves him, and he manages to scrabble himself fully back in the car. As he does, he looks over his shoulder at those middle schoolers crashing out. Asuka really is SUPER intense. Did Misato's teasing really make her that mad?!
"IF YOU GOT IT THEN KEEP YOUR EYES ON THE ROAD!" Shinji shouts back, half from nerves and half from the fact that it's cacophonous in here and one has to shout to be heard. Maybe it's the adrenaline that gets him talking back; maybe they've just gotten that comfortable with each other that he can talk back.
...
No, he's definitely not comfortable here. It's gotta be the adrenaline.
"They're coming up behind us!" Shinji then shouts, but Asuka naturally knows that too, braking to try to fake them out. It doesn't work, though, and soon they're neck in neck. Asuka and Tohji even lean OUT of their respective cars to trash-talk each other. Shinji tugs desperately on Asuka's arm to pull her back in. "Don't let him bait you!!" he tells/begs her.
<Pose Tracker> Asuka Shikinami Langley has posed.
Apparently Tohji does desire to challenge Asuka. And indeed, he's putting on a pretty good show. He might never admit that Asuka could kick his ass in a straight fight, but he's found at least SOMETHING in which he's more experienced than her in.
Asuka's making use of her driving skills but they're only translating so far into bumper cars, whereas apparently Tohji's done this a few times before. Go figure.
As for Misato's teasing making her intense, absolutely!
Ever does Asuka mire herself within her own pride, and is her worst enemy.
"THE ROAD IS THE LAST THING I NEED TO KEEP MY EYE ON RIGHT NOW!" Asuka shouts back over the cacophonous din they're facing right now, as if she thinks right now the road is secondary to her actual opponents.
But Shinji- as the cars lock up, he's actually super right, she IS getting baited. "I'M NOT GONNA DAMNIT!" She is, and she realizes it.
Looking back to a year and a half ago, the chances she'd listen to Shinji verge on the negatives. But now-
Grudgingly her eyes drift back to the road, even as Toji heckles back, "This is what you get with a girl driving, Shinji! She's totally gonna crash and burn!"
Her hands tightened upon the wheel, then, at that moment, she taps the brakes, before punching the accelerator-
And slamming into the back right of the opposing car.
For a moment, everything is in slow motion. Tohji and Kensuke both look ready to wipe out. Asuka and Shinji seem set to PLOW THROUGH.
And then Tohji and Kensuke both lean to one side and land flat, continuing onward. "Eat OUR dust Langley!" As he looks behind at her and pulls back an eyelid, maturely.
"DUDE WATCH OUT!"
...
...
...
Tohji promptly crashes into the tires on the final turn head on, miring them in the rubber, even as the two turn by them on the final stretch.
"I HAD YOU!" Tohji calls, at the unfairness of it all and Asuka calls back...
"Should have kept your eyes on the road, idiot!"
...
...
...
Wait, wasn't that Shinji's advice to her? Isn't that her admitting in a backwards way that she valued and took his advice to heart?
Well... perhaps so.
They cross the finish line in short order, in first place, the track today is a field of devastation, but no major injuries, miraculously!
The employee - in the aftermath a little more animated thanks to the near bloodbath, quickly catches their names and school. "The winners - from Tokyo-3 Municipal High School are-! Asuka Shikinami Langley! AND-! Shinji Ikari!"
Part of him double takes, because 'Ikari' but nah couldn't be.
"Your prize." He hands it over to Shinji.
... It's a twenty five dollar gift card to this fly by night Carnival.
<Pose Tracker> Shinji Ikari has posed.
Is she really not going to get baited? Shinji's not so sure about that. But even as he thinks that, to his amazement, Asuka listens and looks back on the road. It's an astonishing moment, and Shinji takes a heartbeat or two to marvel over it.
Then Tohji heckles him by mocking Asuka. Shinji shoots him a different kind of incredulous look. "You think it matters that she's a girl?" he utters. "She could kick any of our butts easily and you know it."
Shinji has so much faith in his girlfriend! How... sweet...?
A lot of things happen at once, or at least in very rapid succession. First they're winning--then they're losing--then they're winning, with Asuka yelling at Tohji that...
...
When they cross the finish line, Shinji can't help but smile. That first moment, she could've had some plausible deniability, but the next one... she really just said it, huh? Not directly, that's not Asuka's way (except for when it is; Asukas are complicated beasts), but she did acknowledge him.
"Thank you," he says politely to the employee, accepting... a gift card.
Hm.
"This was a lot of fun," he says to Asuka, and he finds he even means it, mostly. (It was that last part that made it fun. Other than that, it was actually kind of nervewracking in an unpleasant way.) He shows the gift card to her and adds, "I guess we just won ourselves free dinner, so--where do you wanna go?"
Somewhere where Tohji and Kensuke aren't, hopefully. They can heckle him all they like at school, and he'll even give them (and Kaworu, who is more or less the fourth member of their boy team at this point) the play-by-play, but he'd like to actually enjoy himself with his girlfriend while they're on their actual date.
<Pose Tracker> Asuka Shikinami Langley has posed.
Well, Asuka's foot to one's face does do wonders for one's faith in her ability to kick one's ass.
But his faith in her certainly is sweet. She even feels a little fuzzy over Shinji defending her - or maybe it's swollen pride, or both!
"Yeah?" Asuka says to Shinji over him saying it was a lot of fun, "It was-" She starts, then stops. Is she struggling to say it was fun too?
"It was a good date."
She eventually decides upon. Was it really so hard to say it was fun, or she had a good time? Good date sounds like she did, but perhaps 'good' doesn't refer to how she feels, but the outcome.
"Maybe that cafe nearby. It's about the only thing around where it wouldn't be better just to eat at home."
Is that her own backwards way of saying that... she thinks Shinji's home cooking is better than most places in town?
... Well... yes.
Tohji is keeping his distance because he absolutely knows that Asuka could beat his ass, even if he attributes it to her being some kind of Coordinator.
(Because from his point of view, how else would a girl beat a guy save through an unfair advantage?)
"Anyhow-" As she takes his hand again, and starts moving in that direction "-let's get going, I'm starving."